Saturday, August 8, 2015

Pen Collection - A few of my Fountain Pens

First of all, props to iWoodArt on etsy for this gorgeous wooden pen holder. Totally in love!!
These are a few of my pens. From left to right:
Vintage Colibri, Lamy Safari Charcoal with black nib, handmade wooden ballpoint with Schmidt Easy Flow 9000 cartridge, Kaweco Skyline in mint, Pilot Metropolitan.
I always have to have one ballpoint around for clients that are scared when I hand them a fountain pen. :)

Here they are, with the addition of the Noodler's Ahab second to right and vintage Cross 10k gold plated ball point with Private Reserve cartridge.

Pilot Metroplitan is my favorite of this group. Very smooth nib, consistent writer. I wish the grip didn't have a lip on the bottom. Also it weighs a bit - 25g. That's about the heaviest pen I would want.

Kaweco is second (both this and the Metro are from JetPens). The Kaweco has a bit of feedback in the nib - I'm a fan of a more buttery nib, but the grip and weight of the pen are an absolute joy.

The Lamy Safari has a hideous grip that I just can't abide by. The triangular grip is not the problem. There is a shelf at the bottom of the grip that my forefinger jams into - very uncomfortable. I guess I really hold it near the nib. The only redeeming value of the Lamy Safari is the absolutely buttery nib - it's like glass. Oh, and the gorgeous black nib and perfect weight of the pen. If they made this with a round grip it would be my top writer.

The Noodler's Ahab seems to have limited application. The flex nib is great, but you really have to press down hard. It's not a relaxing experience, so I'd really rather use on of my very flexible nibs with oblique nib holder if I need line variation. The dipping makes for a less consistent experience - upstrokes can be murder, but once I figure the perfect combo of card stock and new nib I'll be in order. It's looking like the Blue Pumpkin is edging out the Brause 66, Zebra G and Nikko G (but I guess that's for a different post).

Small writing sample - the ink names are written in the sample. Far right is the Purple Platinum Preppy with proprietary ink cartridge. It's a really bright purple. I'm more fond of the Rohrer & Klingner Magenta right now that is in the Kaweco (I bought a converter for it at Goulet Pens).